Lights pods stuck open

[KevW]

Tonight I turned off the headlamps and the pods stayed up. Before I start ripping out relays and checking fuses I wondered has anyone else tackled the same problem ?

[KevW]

Great cars these Excels - they repair themselves.

I went to do an exploratory and before I got stuck in I tried the lights again to find they are now working properly.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Perhaps the cccold northern air up here seized the blighters temporarily following your nocturnal run out the other night?

I bet Lotus never climate-tested the Excel any further north than Cromer

[KevW]

Nah it was a balmy 5 degrees Peter and even warmer when I tried them the following day. Anyway the beast is used to being driven in snow and sub zero temperatures.

Maybe a relay is on it's way out - time will tell...

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Crikey that's positively warm!

............info for soft southerners............. up North we start sweating @ 5 degrees

yeah must be the dreaded relay.

[KevW]

And another thing Lotus DID test cars further north than Cromer. Angus told me that ACBC used to "test" cars by grabbing the nearest set of keys in the evening and arriving in time for breakfast in Montrose !

[KevW]

Or maybe it was Monaco

[gerald]

Crikey that's positively warm!

............info for soft southerners............. up North we start sweating @ 5 degrees

yeah must be the dreaded relay.

is that in case the car wont start

[Simpatico]

Or maybe it was Monaco

Take a bet on which one?

[KevW]

The problem has returned but now I can hear a relay trying to operate somewhere
behind the dashboard. At least I now know where to start looking.

ps and it's 8 degrees c outside.

Went to try and trace the fault to find the lights were working normally again. I think I'll have to wait until the fault changes from intermittent to permenant. The relays are nice and dry as are the connections to them.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

The problem has returned but now I can hear a relay trying to operate somewhere
behind the dashboard. At least I now know where to start looking.

ps and it's 8 degrees c outside

Yep just one sheet on last night - no duvet ...pretty warm for up north.

(touches wood) ...I haven't had one relay failure as yet which seems to be unusual given the number of reports on the forum....probably because it's mostly in the garage out of this pesky wet weather we seem to have as the norm these days....

...wonder how long it'll be before Noah builds another Ark?

[KevW]

Latest on the pod saga. The fault has become more frequent, making it easier to pinpoint.

Now when the lights are stuck open and I operate the light switch there is a whisting sound like a falling bomb (I'm not making this up !) followed by a furious clicking coming from the lower light relay and then the lights retract but out of synch. It's the first time I have ever heard a relay whistle. I'll order a new one on Monday.

[KevW]

The fault was with the headlamp retract relay. A new one was supplied by Mike at Lotusbits.